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Eleven-Up timeline
Eleven-Up debuted on September 12, 1988, which is the same day as the syndicated version of Finders Keepers. Also, the 1988 version of Wipeout ''debuted that day. The show has an extremely high budget, and in Season 23, it became an infinite budget. This concept originated on the Game Show Network (GSN) boards on April 1, 2004, in the Fan Fiction forum. Season 1 (1988-1989) The show makes its big debut. *The show tapes in Los Angeles, California for the first season. *Professor Samuel Oak is the show's host, and Mokuba Kaiba is the show's announcer. *The opening spiel is: "Before our players lie three rivers. In just a few moments, each of these rivers will be running at three different speeds as our contestants play the great outdoor game, Eleven-Up! Eleven-Up is a show filmed in a field just outside Los Angeles. The game plays completely outdoors. Professor Samuel Oak is your host!" *The announcer's closing spiel is: "This is Mokuba Kaiba speaking for Eleven-Up. A production of Kagikakko Television." '''September 1988:'' (season begins September 12) *On September 12 (transcript can be viewed here): **The very first episode has the following contestants: At the yellow podium is Len Gleefield, a dentist from Charleston, South Carolina. At the orange podium, Crystal Linux, a bartender from Miami, Florida. And at the blue podium, Tim Daint, an electrician from Denver, Colorado. **The eleven colors on the card are: (1) Blue, (2) red, (3) yellow, (4) green, (5) cyan, (6) orange, (7) pink, (8) purple, (9) black, (10) white, and (11) light blue. **In round 1, Len picks river 1, Crystal takes river 3, and Tim takes river 2. River 1 is medium speed, river 2 is fast, and river 3 is slow. **The very first box taken off of the river is smashed to reveal a purple block, which is color #8. Altogether, Len earns five spaces on his card (1, 2, 4, 8, and 11) and gets $2,350. **Crystal earns only one space (9, the black one). **The first set of squares picked in round 2 is 3, 12, 13, 23, 24, 32, 33, and 43. They all reveal $200 squares, and are picked by Len. **Crystal, who went last, picked 10 squares that all revealed colored spaces. They were all down the left-hand and right-hand columns. The colors, in order, from top to bottom, were yellow, pink, white, orange, and blue. **In round 3, Tim finishes his card in a time of 3:01. **Len finishes his card in only 24 seconds, filling a space on every box-smash. **Tim goes to the bonus round with $13,350. **In the bonus round, the very first square Tim picks is #45, which contains $250. **Tim picks squares 1-10 and 91-100, all of which contain $250. **Tim wins the bonus round with 18 seconds left, and finishes with $56,950. **The "Win" square was picked in the bonus round, and it was hidden behind square #51. The red star was hidden behind #16, and the blue star was hidden behind #71. *On September 13: **Returning champion Tim plays at the orange podium. **In round 1, the yellow player reveals 9 spaces on her card. **Tim makes it to the bonus round, but does not complete the card. He still had 4 spaces left to go when time ran out. *On September 14: **Returning champion Tim plays at the blue podium. **Tim wins the bonus round with 38 seconds left. *On September 15: **Returning champion Tim plays at the yellow podium. **The orange player gets 8 spaces filled in round 1, smashing 22 boxes. **At least one instance of every color is found on the round 2 board. **Tim is defeated, winning over $110,000. *On the week of September 19-23: **The host's opening spiel is: "Thank you, Mokuba, and welcome to Eleven-Up. Smashing boxes has never been so much fun." **In round 3, the probability of a box containing a colored block is changed to 1 in 3, as opposed to 1 in 5. This was done because in the premiere, it took 3 minutes for someone to complete their card. **After two players pick their rivers in rounds 1 and 3, the last player no longer explicitly states what river to go to, since there is only one remaining choice. **The announcer's closing spiel changes to: "This is your announcer Mokuba Kaiba. We'll see you next time on Eleven-Up!," just like the closing announcement on the syndicated version of Finders Keepers. When the copyright appears, the announcer intones, "Eleven-Up is a production of Kagikakko Television." '''October 1988: *On October 3, a contestant fills 10 squares on the card in round 1. *On October 7, a contestant has only one space to go in round 3, and the first box smashed revealed that color. January 1989: *The week of January 20-24 is Teen Week. Season 2 (1989-1990) Season Changes: *Professor Elm becomes the show's host. *The show now tapes in Denver, Colorado. *There is an opening animation. It goes like this: **On a dark purple background, each letter of Eleven-Up (in outline form; this and all the other text are set in an all-caps Korinna font, like the answers on Jeopardy!) moves down the screen, leaving copies in six colors (from top to bottom: light blue, yellow, green, hot pink, orange, and deep river; this is similar to the opening of Super Password). **All copies merge into one in the center of the screen, flash, and turn solid white. **The word "Up" moves upward slightly as a stream of river water briefly flows across the screen (from left to right), leaving a green rectangle behind the words "Eleven Up." Then, the logo zooms in slightly while the background quickly fades to bright blue river water, flowing slowly from left to right. **The words "The Great" come from the top of the screen and settle on the top of the rectangle, and the words "River Game" come from the bottom of the screen and settle on the bottom of the rectangle. **A vertical orange neon light bar sweeps across the screen from left to right. As it does so, the rectangle turns purple, a blue parallelogram appears behind "The Great," and a gold oval appears behind "River Game." Also, the letters in "Eleven" turn pale rainbow colors, and "Up" turns a very light sky blue (almost white). **The logo stays on the screen for a couple of seconds, then it quickly zooms forward, toward the center of the gold oval at the bottom of the logo, until the screen becomes completely gold (just like in the opening of Dirty Rotten Cheater). Then, it fades into the set. *The opening spiel becomes: "It's time for the great river game, Eleven-Up! Let's get rollin' on the rivers! And now, here's your host, Professor Elm!" *The host's opening spiel is: "Thank you, Mokuba, and welcome to Eleven-Up. The great river game for a smashing good time." *The host's closing spiel becomes: "Join us next time when we'll have three more contestants rollin' on the rivers and making money on Eleven-Up. Goodbye, everybody!" May 1990: *Episode #500 airs on May 7. *On May 10, Super Eleven-Up debuts. Season 3 (1990-1991) *On November 2, for the first time, a contestant fills his entire card in round 1. *On November 28, Professor Elm enters from behind the right side of the 100-square bonus round board. *On January 1, the background of the Win square in the bonus round changes from dark blue to purple. *On January 16, Professor Elm enters by sitting on a solid, elongated box that flows along river #1. *On March 20, Professor Elm enters from behind the left side of the 100-square bonus round board. *On March 21, a contestant finds the Win square in the bonus round just as the clock hits 0, having picked 37 squares and getting no spaces on the card. The looks of the contestant and host are priceless. *On March 22, Professor Elm enters from behind the right side of the wall behind river #1 (the wall is turned to the yellow side), and jumps over the river. *On April 24, Professor Elm enters from behind the right side of the wall behind river #2 (the wall is turned to the orange side), and jumps over that river and then river #1. *On May 21, Professor Elm enters by running forward, toward the set, and in the process, jumping over river #3, then river #2, and finally river #1. *On June 27, Professor Elm enters from behind the audience bleachers. Season 4 (1991-1992) *On July 16, Super Eleven-Up airs its final episode. Season 5 (1992-1993) *On February 3, a contestant picks the Win square in the bonus round just as the clock hits 0. *Episode #1,000 airs on March 12. Season 6 (1993-1994) *The opening spiel becomes: "Welcome to Eleven-Up! The great river game for a smashing good time! And now, here's your host, Professor Elm!" *On March 1, for the second time, a contestant fills her entire card in round 1. *On April 19, Dick Pabich, a consultant for a 1984 documentary called The Times of Harvey Milk, is a contestant. He stays on for seven episodes, and wins over $200,000. Pabich died on New Year's Day 2000 of AIDS-related complications, aged 44. Season 7 (1994-1995) *Episode #1,500 airs on June 9. Season 8 (1995-1996) Season Changes: *Johnny Garfield becomes the show's host. *The "time's up" indicator in round 1 is changed to a standard buzzer. Previously, it was an air horn (the same one used on Minute to Win It), also used in the bonus round. The "time's up" buzzer in the bonus round changes to the same buzzer, only slightly longer and slightly louder than the one in round 1. Both buzzer variations are still used today. *The opening spiel becomes: "Welcome to Eleven-Up! The great river game for a smashing good time! And now, here's your host, the star of Eleven-Up, Johnny Garfield!" Season 9 (1996-1997) Season 10 (1997-1998) Season Changes: *The opening logo changes colors: The parallelogram at the top becomes green, the rectangle in the middle becomes blue, and the oval becomes hot pink. The "Eleven Up" text is still in its same colors as before, but "The Great" and "River Game" become yellow. November 1997: *Episode #2,000 airs on November 14. Season 11 (1998-1999) Season 12 (1999-2000) *Episode #2,500 airs on February 25. *On June 1, a contestant smashes 28 boxes in round 1, getting 16 colored blocks, 12 clear blocks, and 9 spaces on the card, for $4,150. He also wins the bonus round with 92 seconds left on the clock by picking the red and blue stars. *On June 7, for the third time, a contestant fills her entire card in round 1. Season 13 (2000-2001) Season Changes: *Seasons now usually end in May instead of June. September 2000: *September 1 was filled with a lot of good luck: **In round 1 ***River 1 was slow, river 2 was fast, and river 3 was medium. ***The yellow player played on river 3 and smashed 27 boxes, 19 of which revealed colored blocks, and got all 11 spaces lit up on the card. The orange player got 8 spaces lit up, and the blue player got 9 spaces lit up. **In round 2: ***The yellow player picks 13 squares (5, 10, 14, 20, 21, 29, 33, 36, 41, 42, 43, 45, and 50), 9 of which revealed colors, and the remaining 4 squares contained the highest dollar amount on the board. **In round 3: ***Both the orange player and blue player filled their cards in less than 15 seconds, getting all colored blocks along the way. **In the bonus round, the yellow player picked the Win square on the very first pick. It was located behind square #47. She won over $67,500 in this episode. Season 14 (2001-2002) Season 15 (2002-2003) Season Changes: *The opening spiel becomes: "Welcome to Eleven-Up! The great river game for a smashing good time! Let's get rollin' on the rivers! And now, ladies and gentlemen, here's your host, the star of Eleven-Up, Johnny Garfield!" *Episode #3,000 airs on September 27. Season 16 (2003-2004) Season Changes: *The opening logo changes colors again: The parallelogram at the top becomes red, the rectangle in the middle becomes dark bluish-purple, and the oval goes back to being gold. The "Eleven Up" text retains coloration as before, but "The Great" and "River Game" become blue. *Contestants now stay on until defeated. Season 17 (2004-2005) September 2004: *Episode #3,500 airs on March 11. *November 15-19 is the show's first annual Million Dollar Championship. Alongside the million dollars, the bonus round is played for $100,000. *On April 15, the tiebreaker format is changed to the second one. Season 18 (2005-2006) *November 14-18 is the show's 2nd annual Million Dollar Championship. Alongside the million dollars, the bonus round is played for $150,000. *On December 5, the tiebreaker format is changed to the current one. *On April 17, the jackpot in the bonus round now becomes progressive. Each time it's not won, it goes up by $1,000. Season 19 (2006-2007) *November 13-17 is the show's 3rd annual Million Dollar Championship. Alongside the million dollars, the bonus round is played for $200,000. Season 20 (2007-2008) Season Changes: *In the bonus round, if a player picks the Win square on the very first pick, his/her winnings for the round are augmented to $100,000. The jackpot still resets to $25,000. October 2007: *Episode #4,000 airs on October 12. November 2007: *November 12-16 is the show's 4th annual Million Dollar Championship. Alongside the million dollars, the bonus round is played for $250,000. January 2008: *January 23, 2008 is the first episode with a $100,000 win in the bonus round. The Win square was behind square #55. Season 21 (2008-2009) *On September 12, a 20th Anniversary Special airs. It was taped on July 18, 2008. *November 17-21 is the show's 5th annual Million Dollar Championship. Alongside the million dollars, the bonus round is played for $300,000. Season 22 (2009-2010) Season Changes: *A contestant can win one million dollars if he/she gets very lucky. *Episode #4,500 airs on March 12. *November 16-20 is the show's 6th annual Million Dollar Championship. Alongside the million dollars, the bonus round is played for $350,000. Season 23 (2010-2011) *Inspired by Pepsi's Play for a Billion (aired in 2003), at the beginning of the season is the show's first-ever Billion Dollar Championship. Season 24 (2011-2012) *Inspired by Pepsi's Play for a Billion, at the beginning of the season is the show's second-ever Billion Dollar Championship. Season 25 (2012-2013) *Episode #5,000 airs on November 16. Season 26 (2013-2014)